ABSTRACT
Congress can force members to disclose their personal and campaign finances and professional contacts. As a legislative body at the center of an advanced and vibrant democracy, Congress behaves almost schizophrenically. Citizens of an effective representative democracy must have the capacity to communicate their policy preferences and general concerns about public issues to elected officials. At a certain level all legislatures in advanced democracies make their members accessible to citizens. The Legislative Reorganization Act of 1970, however, forced transparency upon committees. Historically, American state legislatures have used recorded votes much more. Determining whether any one legislative body has members who are more trustworthy, ethical, or less corrupt than another's is effectively impossible. At the heart of representative democracy is the belief that just about any adult citizen should be eligible for, and indeed quite plausibly capable of securing, a seat in the legislature.
